#and how universally beloved his romance arc was

[itwasabeautifulwebbing]

not to get all mass effect on my minthara simping blog but i remain BEYOND baffled by the amount of garrus hate i’ve been seeing in the notes on those polls. like… you hate garrus? really?? the guy who has had your back from day one even if you pick arguments with him about his morality every single day? the guy who, when you disagree with him, genuinely seems to pause and give what you say the serious thought it deserves? you can change this man’s mind about what justice looks like, that’s how deeply he thinks about and respects shepard’s opinions!

“yeah well he’s a cop and acab” acab doesn’t mean assigned cop at birth you walnut, and he very definitively stops being a c-sec officer! that’s like a core component of his character arc!

[silviakundera]

Did a speedrun through modern cdrama Everyone Loves Me because I'm a fan of both leads. A fairly well constructed romcom for a specific trope, AND also one of the most valid examples of the critique that cdrama storylines are pointlessly over-extended. This would have been a great modern drama at 12 episodes. Unfortunately, it's at least 10 episodes too long. The literal gaming (characters interacting while playing videogames) is very light - it's an initiating plot device piece but doesn't consume much actual screen time. The real genre is IT workplace romance with Hidden Identity trope.

Do you like:

* Capable & ambitious female lead x male lead with a competency kink whose turn-offs are white lotus & green tea girls and turn-ons are brash ladies who can cuss you out; dressing up to impress is not required

* Romantic dynamic of equal partners (2 strong personalities, not active/passive)

* "We don't know yet who is going to be the breadwinner. My goal is to be a CEO."

* Low heat (just a few kisses),

* modern workplace dramas (so much working)

[heavy spoilers below]

The actual set up & outline are:

* Online friend group who casually game together, in the last days of university. One of the guys starts catching feelings for the girl, our FL (let's call him Gamer Friend). FL isn't romantically considering Gamer Friend at all, because she has a crush on a guy from her uni.

* This crush is Gamer Friend in rl! 😮

* ML isn't open to being crushed on by anyone at rl uni, because he is already hung up on FL (as his online friend) 🙈

* FL asks for advice from her gaming buds on how to pursue her rl crush. Gamer Friend doesn't want her to succeed, because he wants to win her heart, so he keeps giving terrible advice to chase him by acting out the soft-spoken innocent maiden archetype (the opposite of FL's real boisterous & brash personality)

* This creates a comedy of errors where ML in rl is being pursued by the woman he's in love with, but he's shooting her down left & right. This culminates in her confessing and he publically rejects her in a harsh manner. When she comes crying (and vengeful) to the group, the guys all realize the identity confusion. Appropriately horrified, bros have no idea what to do. (This whole scene is gold tbh.)

* This plotline covers 7 episodes, but should have been dealt with in 4.

* Next 5 episodes (should have been 2!): Gamer Friend, toiling under karma, tries to be virtually supportive of his beloved while in person desperately making gestures to show remorse & have her less willing to obliterate his RL person. (this is all complicated by them both hired into the same company post-grad; there's a whole gaming dev & art design subplot - like in Lighter & Princess, the writers did the research so the setting is reality-based). This arc ends with identity reveal: she finally knows irl crush = Gamer Friend

* Next 6-7 episodes lead her from being (rightfully) furious and humiliated to them finally becoming friendly & supportive of each other. He waits to ask for more until he feels truly forgiven for the shakespearean hijinks that kept them apart. Includes work drama and fake-dating For Reasons. This arc, again, could have been 3-4 episodes.

* Final 5 episode arc is dating era and culmination of the gaming dev plotline. Heavy emphasis on work drama. Only 2 out of the last 5 episodes had significant romance material for the main couple, which was the major flaw in the drama. Avoided the separation cliche but also no marriage scenes at the end - we just see that they're still close, supportive partners a year later. Should have been 3 episodes ;)

The structure is right for a simple rom com set up of: one party pursues, gets rejected, then the other party pursues & corrects their mistake. The misunderstandings are logical enough; FL is assertive and we see evidence of her talent (not just told); ML likes her for herself & doesn't want a childish, obedient woman like the idol dramas represent; they are shown to make a good team & respect each other; the wronged party isn't a push over and their forgiveness has to be earned. It's clear why they like each other and that they work as a couple. (Though the emphasis is on compatibility & domesticity rather than sexual heat.)

The showrunner just needed to compress each arc and spend a lot less time on corporate minutiae. The way I engage with this type of drama is to binge, skip all 2nd couple scenes, and liberal use of fast forward ⏩⏩.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Top 5 movies set in the present and top 5 period films :)

Hi!!! I got this ask and forgot every movie I have ever loved (and will probably remember them all as soon as I hit post). It also reminded me painfully of how inadequate my cinephile culture is; there are so many classics that I'm almost certain I will love if I watch them and that would deserve the spotlight so much!

So let's make these lists about interesting movies that I think are good as movies, and not think much if they are truly The BestTM. I'm also omitting Austen and other adaptations I already talk too much about.

"Contemporary films" (set in the present is a complicated concept. I'm picking them as "the narrative happens sometime contemporary to the movie's original release date"):

5. Music & Lyrics (2007):

This is technically a romantic comedy, but its strength relies on its love for music, its humor about the music industry, and a take on 80s nostalgia that is neither surrendered idealization nor complete mockery. It's one of the few movies where I actually like Hugh Grant, and the score is so well done! My one gripe really is that I think the movie would have been so much better if the leads have remained platonic? Sometimes I like to pretend they did.

4. Dead Man Walking (1995):

This is one of those serious, controversial movies professors pick for university discussions, in this case, the one about the death penalty. The movie tries (and I believe succeeds) to address without "solving" or dismissing the relationship between our horror at heinous crimes, justice for the victims and their pain, and the value of all human lives. Susan Sarandon is as always majestic in this one.

3. National Treasure (2004):

Tumblr loves National Treasure, but I love it specifically because to me it somehow captures the thrill, the exotic mystery (without gross Orientalization!) AND the nonsense of a classic Jules Verne novel -and Verne was one of the staples of my childhood- in a way that no Verne movie adaptation I have ever watched manages to capture.

2. State of Play (2009):

This one is mostly an excuse to cheat, because while the movie is a very solid political thriller (you know, one of those "you might enjoy even if you are not a fan of the genre), the original British TV series it is adapting is better. And both have great casts (Russell Crowe is probably more solid than Cal Macaffrey on the same role, but David Morrissey does a much better job than Ben Affleck. So, it goes both ways, you see).

Hot Fuzz (2007):

I have heard this one being called "the most intelligent stupid comedy ever made", and honestly, fitting description. I have joked before about this being my comfort movie and how funny that is because it is the gory story of a police officer being kicked out of his beloved job and sent into a town where everyone mocks and gaslights him and then the back end of the movie is a non-stop action sequence... but, listen, it is funny, it is, somehow, heart warming, you can tell everyone is having a ball, the editing is amazing, the pacing is just right, so many set ups and they all pay off, the story is satisfying, the characters -specially the main lead- are likeable, and their arcs also satisfying.

Period films:

5. Oscar (1991):

This is a very silly comedy set in the 30s, adapted from a play and you can tell, but it is a riot, and in my opinion one of the best Stallone roles ever. It makes me wish he had done more comedies in this style. It also has the always charming Marisa Tomei and the always welcome Tim Curry.

4. The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995)

Another instance of a movie where Hugh Grant does not annoy me, it's basically what says in the tin and the right kind of thing if you enjoy the typical British period drama of beautiful landscape, small town shenanigans and restrained romance.

3. The Mask of Zorro (1998):

Much of what I said about National Treasure applies here, except that it is not at all silly, and it has many moments of great pathos besides being a really good adventure/superhero movie.

2. To Walk Invisible (2016):

This is a biopic of the Brontë sisters, just covering their peak years of authorial activity, to trace a portrait of their personalities and life situation. While my knowledge of Bronteana is not super extensive, from the little I have read of them in general, plus Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, I feel like this was carefully and lovingly done, without heavy editorializing or overdramatization (I'm staring at you, Emily (2022)), or pitting the sisters against each other. There's a scene of Emily reciting her poetry to Anne in the moors that just got me in the feels.

Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World (2003)

There are few genres I'm as disinterested in as war epics, and few movies I love as much as I love Master and Commander.

It was harmed by coming out the same year as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, but it is, and what I'm going to say will sound blasphemous to some, the better movie of the two. It is a war epic, and a slice of life film. It's the story of a friendship between two very different men and the tensions their personalities and job at sea bring. The cast is top notch, down to child actors. Some of the production details are insane. They made rope specifically for this film because the way modern rope is turned doesn't fit well with old rigging techniques. The cast spent many days together at sea learning the basics of how to manage the ship and work in their ranks and the way sailors and officers would relate to each other. The immersion this all creates is also insane. The sound design was marvelous as well, and the score truly inspired (I want to kiss the person who picked Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis as one of the main features of a 2000s movie adapting a 20th century novel about the Napoleonic Wars, the same way 19th-20th century Ralph Vaughan Williams picked up a tune by a 16th century composer to do his thing, to establish this thematic connection between past and present and the ways we look at and make History).

If you watch only one movie on this list, watch this one. It's worth it.

Ask me my top5/top10 anything!

[raven-moon33]

What r some wenclair headcanons you have or things you’d want to see in S2

Ooh, let's see, Wenclair headcanons:

Enid speaking Greek, and Wednesday going feral over it because of a dormant Addams gene that makes them absolutely weak for languages they don't know.

The Gomezification of Wednesday Addams once she's fallen in love with Enid, because I personally find the idea that in her determination not to become her mother she accidentally becomes her father, which is made evident when she falls in love with Enid, too hilarious not to love.

Wednesday doing creepy Addams-type things while attempting to court (ask out) Enid, who doesn't get the message and thinks Wednesday's threatening to kill her. (Gets me every time).

Thing, Eugene, and/or Yoko being the biggest Wenclair shipper(s) in-universe.

Wednesday keeping the majority of their dating relationship relatively chill in public (some light hand-holding, a pet name or two, maybe even a kiss on the cheek every once in a while), but then going all out with grand romantic gestures and midnight serenades and adoring kisses when it's just the two of them.

All this amongst a plethora of others, but since this is already getting a bit wordy, I'll move along to the next bit.

As for things I want to see in Season 2, literally the first and major thing that comes to mind is PLEASE NO MORE FORCED ROMANCES OR LOVE TRIANGLES.

The only thing that made the boring love triangle from Season 1 at all bearable was from how clearly Wednesday did not give a shit about it and how she repeatedly told both Xavier and Tyler that she really did not give a shit about their feelings or their crushes on her, she has more important and much more interesting things to do with her time, thank you very much.

There was an interview with the writers of the show where they mentioned their plan was to focus more on Wednesday's relationships with her mother and Enid, and I am on my knees BEGGING that this will happen.

Wenclair shipper though I am, I adored the platonic friendship between Enid and Wednesday more than anything else in the show, especially since I feel it contributed the most to Wednesday's character arc over the first season.

I am well-aware that Wenclair ever becoming canon is probably a long-shot, despite some of Netflix's recent major, original, and successful works including leading gay characters. (I'm looking at you, Fear Street trilogy, my wonderful beloved).

So if we are never given the blessing of seeing Wenclair becoming canon in a natural progression of their relationsip, I am of the firm opinion that aroace Wednesday is probably the most realistic and best outcome we're going to get in canon.

Besides that, I'm hoping for a mystery just as interesting and complex as the one in Season 1, seeing the character arcs for Lucas Walker and Bianca hinted at in Season 1, and seeing Enid trying to convince Wednesday to use her brand new phone for more than just investigating the stalker, and maybe even trying to get her to download social media. (I also enjoy the idea of Thing either getting a phone of his own to do that stuff with or using Wednesday's phone for it, like downloading Twitter and friending Enid).

[two-reflections]

how you feel about your current WIP

Which one, hahahahaaa...

Thanks for asking, it's always good to do a WIP audit. Let's do it as a numbered list. Only going for the multi-chapter stories here. I also have a lot of oneshots in varying states of completion.

Non Warhammer 40k stories are under the Read More.

Carrion's Heir - Technically not a WIP, but not fully uploaded yet. It would have been a better story if I hadn't had to follow a set of prompts, but that was how the challenge I wrote it for worked. Still, I love the main character and his story arc. May come back to it in the future.

Of Steel and Flesh - Started off as a quick series of campaign-inspired drabbles, but became its own thing. I kind of love it and kind of hate it sometimes. Maybe I should have just left it as a bunch of tiny vignettes. I am committed to finishing it, though. Again, I care a lot about the main characters, and I REALLY like the Dark Mechanicum sect in it.

Even in Death - MY BELOVED. MY DARLING. MY SWEET, SELF-INDULGENT DREADNOUGHT-BASED BABY. Putting this one off to finish other projects hurts so bad. I want to write the rest of this ASAP.

[Unnamed Techmarine Story] - This is about my character Bai'keti's 30 years on Mars. It's less about his training and more about what being so far from his brothers and culture is like, the difficulty of adopting a new culture, and his intense friendship with another techmarine in training from the Dragonspears chapter. I'll probably never upload this one because I'm not too familiar with what Mars in 40k is like beyond "Admech and the Void Dragon live here." Plus, it's based on my own time as an International student at a particularly weird British University. It makes me feel nostalgic for the rare good times, and also SO freaking glad I survived my time and am not there any more. Hated my Uni so much. This WIP is also on the back burner at like 12k words, will probably pick it back up in the autumn.

[Unnamed Salamander Story] - The story of Val'ten's first year in the Salamanders' 6th company. Includes a romance between him and his brander priest, but it's mostly about various missions and adventures, how he settles to life as a Salamander brother, and his attempt to grow a little garden in his downtime. This one is my most long-term wh40k project since I came up with Val'ten in 2017 for a completely different (and much worse) fic. His story has been stuck at around 60k words for months because it's on the back burner while I finish other things, but this is the story I think about in the shower, when I'm waiting in a queue, when I'm on the train. It's so important to me.

Other fandoms and Original Work

The Name Within - A leftover from my Kingdom Hearts Days. It's about Isa straightening out his head after everything that happened in KH3, and coming to terms with perhaps never functioning like a normal human after experiencing literal dehumanization at a pivotal age. I've linked it because it's on Ao3, but I wouldn't bother checking it out, it's probably not worth reading unless you really like this one particular dude. It's been missing around two paragraphs to finish for years. I should just bash those out and finish it, but it's hard to find the keen for it now.

Big Name on Campus/The Dream He Was Given - Temporary names for two fanfics based on a very old Sci-Fi manga. One is a weird fix-it-fic, the other is based on the University career of my favourite character, the chronically ill director of a medical center. I know, another university story, but I swear this one's not primarily based on my experience; rather, on watching my parents' students over the years. Decent chance I will never finish these two, there's no English-speaking audience for this comic so they're only for me. I love BNOC, though. The other, I could take or leave.

Twisted Links - Original story. After a series of international incidents and corporate takeovers, HR Agent Marley from the Pan-Martian Corporation ends up as temporary site director for a radio telescope in the Caribbean with secret instructions to ensure the Corp's permanent control of the site. Unbeknownst to Marley, local engineer and anti-colonialism activist Victor is struggling to hide a rogue Pan-Martian AI which caused a major international incident several decades before. Will Victor be able to keep the AI secret, or will Marley find out that there's a second being living inside Victor's head? Whose vision for the future of the telescope will become reality, or will the whole place shut down? The first 20k words of this story secured me a first-class Master's degree, but just as I was gearing up to write the rest, the catastrophic demise of the telescope where I grew up happened. I miss this story and want to go back to it but... Trauma...

[cuubism]

(this is the how-does-hob's-immortality-work anon, back with More Thoughts which I will now bother you with. feel free to ignore)

the dichotomy of Dreamling: Hob wouldn't live for Dream, but he would kill for him and he would die for him. Dream would kill for Hob or die for him, but the real challenge is living for him.

an in-depth analysis because I am incapable of not talking for a long time about things:

Hob was a soldier for the first century and a bit of his life, right? but after that, we see zero evidence that he becomes a soldier again. I mean, he still knows how to fight in 1789, but he's not a professional soldier, he has no weapons on him at the time, he doesn't kill the two thugs. and throughout the 17th century, when he's starving on the streets, he doesn't turn to banditry or highway robbery (that we see) — and maybe that's because he's morally opposed to it or something, but that seems unlikely, seeing as he later gets involved in the slave trade. no, to me it looks like Hob doesn't want to go back to the career of banditry / fighting / being a mercenary that he had for his first two centuries. I think Hob doesn't like fighting anymore; I think he's maybe traumatised, maybe he doesn't want to prevent anyone from living life to the fullest because he has all this extra time and he doesn't have the right to take that time from other people. so when I say that Hob would kill for Dream, it means something.

slightly hot take: Hob isn't living for Dream. if something happened to Dream, Hob would obviously be upset, but he would keep on living because he just enjoys life. he isn't going to pine away without Dream. if he were, he would have died centuries ago.

I absolutely ADORE that fic of yours about Dream having to actively keep Hob alive for the bet with Death, and especially the bit where Hob risks his life by breaking into the Burgess manor to save Dream. despite what I said in point (2), I love the idea that Hob will risk his life for Dream because Dream is just that important to him.

because Dream is the Prince of Stories, he sees a lot of life as stories. and therefore he would have no compunctions at all about either killing or dying for Hob, because isn't that the role of a storybook love interest? to destroy anyone who would dare to hurt their beloved is what you do in storybook romance. to sacrifice themselves to save said beloved is the tragic, fitting ending to a story. Dream might even see this as what he's supposed to do.

what Dream does not see as his "job" in relationships is to live. that isn't how stories go; stories are about drama and tragic sacrifice, not the everyday struggle to actually want to wake up in the mornings. (not that Dream wakes up in the mornings, since I'm pretty sure he doesn't sleep, but you get the idea.) but Hob shows Dream what it is that makes life so worth living. Hob helps Dream see the value in humanity/life/whatever, helps him want to keep going for a reason beyond his Duty to the Universe.

in conclusion, I love Dreamling.

sorry i did not mean to ignore you 😶

yes i think hob not being a soldier any more is definitely a fair take. he seems to keep up at least some skills - for self-protection i'm sure - but he doesn't have to be an actual soldier. and yeah my guess is when he was homeless he was probably engaging in petty theft or something but there's no particular indication that he was excessively or needlessly violent (i'm sure he had to do some fighting for self-protection).

hob would definitely kill for dream, tho. he just would, you are right XD but he's not living for dream, it's a case of "i can live without you but i'd prefer to live with you"

yes god i'm always obsessed with the idea of dream living his life according to stories, just mapping what he does onto story tropes and narrative arcs, like, 'yes i can do the big sweeping romantic gesture, yes i can do the noble sacrifice, what do you mean relationships are actually about the small things and the day-to-day. idea rejected.' meanwhile hob is literally all about the small things. much to learn there. and hob doesn't see life as a story the way dream does, or if it is a story, it's not one with a set arc and ending. it's more meandering, easily subject to outside influence.

i think that shift in perspective is baffling to dream but ultimately helpful. it's hard to help yourself when you feel stuck on a certain track. and if there's one thing that hob's learned in so many hundreds of years, it's that there's always some way to get unstuck from wherever you are. these paths are not set.

but yeah the dynamic of them makes me crazy

[mxanigel]

10 some # of characters | 10 some # of fandoms | 10 a negotiable number of tags

thank you for the tag beloved @poetikat <3 <3 <3

1) Hange Zoe + Levi Ackerman -- Attack on Titan. (They're a unit to me, okay?) Hange is an energetic ruthless clever jovial skilled enby who has captured my whole heart. Levi is crude and harsh and strong, someone who needs and deserves love AND HE WILL GET IT.

2) Beatrice the Golden Witch -- Umineko When They Cry. My ultimate "I support women's wrongs" character. Queerqueerqueerqueerqueer. I can't explain too much because MASSIVE SPOILERS but she is everything. ahahaha.wav (Her Japanese voice actress is freaking incredible.)

3) Renne Bright -- The Legend of Heroes series. My beloved Angel of Slaughter. What you've been through. How you've fallen. How you've gotten back up. How you've faced the demons of your past and the unexpected family in your present. You're loved for who you are, not what you could have been, and that's one of the most precious things I've ever seen.

4) Lloyd Bannings -- The Legend of Heroes series. I don't know where to start with this guy. I love him. I know I'm cheating by not choosing a different fandom here (even though he was introduced in a different game from Renne), but he is MY BOY. He sees the good in people and ensures that his actions are driven by evidence and truly cares about those around him. Part of my inspiration for OC Shion Miller tbh.

5) Toothless -- How to Train Your Dragon. Flying black cat who breathes fire. 'nuf said. :D

6) Mara Jade -- Star Wars. Female Force-using badass with a lightsaber and a dark background and red hair and falls for Luke and and and AUGH. She is why I fell for the Expanded Universe. She is why I fell out of love with Star Wars when Disney made those novels not canon. I still love Star Wars. I just can't engage the same way I used to.

7) Qifrey -- Witch Hat Atelier. I'm not even four volumes into this breathtakingly-drawn manga but this man provides one of THE best examples of a mentor-mentee relationship that I've ever seen in fiction. He sees his apprentices as individual, unique humans each with different strengths and different needs. And he teaches them magic in line with those strengths and those needs. While acknowledging that they're human and don't need to be perfect. He's the kind of mentor I want to be to my students.

8) Saeki Sayaka -- Bloom Into You. Oh girl. You deserve the world. And yet you fell for a girl who would ultimately fall for someone else. Despite all the things you did for her. It's fine. You're fine. You'll be okay. You'll find someone new. Who will love you and challenge you and and and I JUST LOVE HER ARC OKAY?

9) Anora Mac Tir -- Dragon Age. Queen. I love Loghain and she loves Loghain and SHE STANDS UP TO HIM. Yet her behavior UNDERSTANDABLY changes depending on whether the Warden spares her father. She deserves the world and more.

10) Ashley Williams + Kaidan Alenko -- Mass Effect. The one-or-the-other Virmire survivors (someday I may install the mod that enables both to live. SOMEDAY). I've romanced them with different Shepards. I've had those Shepards rekindle their relationships post-Horizon or never try. They're amazing wonderful nuanced characters who deserve more love.

Honorary mention: Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and Karlach from Baldur's Gate 3. I'm still in Act 2. There's so much I still don't know about these women. But I love them and I will defend them until I'm out of breath. And someday I will get to know Minthara and fall hard for her too.

no-pressure tagging @saraptor @spindleweedss @mxkelsifer @milesmentis @blightcaller @druckkugelschreiber @nightingalesighs @korblez @dr-paine @captastra @perhapsrampancy @socially-awkward-skeleton @valiantvillain and anyone else who might like to play~

[sitp-recs]

HP Rec Fest, Day 27

Omg day 27 already?! I can’t believe this fest is almost done :( today’s prompt for @hprecfest is fun but also challenging for those (like me) who read way more canon-based fic than AUs. But I do love a good challenge so I decided to go full non-magical AU instead of picking a “Draco in the Muggle World” AU. And since I’ve been sick in bed with a lot of time in my hands I thought why not rec 2 Drarry fics + 1 rare pair. As you’ll see I love rivals to lovers a normal amount so that naturally makes Sports AU my absolute obsession jam. I’m so happy to include in one single post an old fave, a recent fave and my favourite rare pair. Run don’t walk!

Day 27) a Muggle-AU fic:

Drarry

🏒 Mad Blood Stirring by provocative_envy (E, 3k)

It's not like they've been angrily hooking up on the sly since meeting at a Juniors skills camp in fucking Manitoba four years ago, except that's exactly what they've been doing. ALTERNATIVELY: Draco and Harry really need to talk about their feelings.

fucking finally, the perfect excuse to cheekily include my fave sports/non-magical AUs and scream non-stop about them! I couldn’t care less for hockey, and yet I’ve reread this classic more times than I care to admit. this is superb rivals with benefits to lovers (my fave!), super hot and hilariously chaotic as all Drarry things should be. PE nails both characters in a non-magical setting perfectly - their voices are a delight and the constant flirting bickering made me lol every 3 seconds. they are so deliciously crazy for each other I could stay in this verse forever just watching them pine, play & fuck throughout the season - make sure to go check the FlintWood piece here, it’s equally brilliant! def a classic sports AU to reread over and over.

🚣‍♀️ Our Objective Remains Unchanged by @citrusses (E, 46k)

Harry Potter, returning member of the Oxford University Boat Club, has two goals for the spring of 2005: beat Cambridge, and beat Draco Malfoy. Perhaps not in that order.

an instant 2023 fave, this is the rowing AU I did not know I needed but boy, am I happy it found me 🙏🏼 citrus got me shooketh from beginning to end, I am awed by the world building and the whole Oxford way of life especially the classism aspect and the training ethos. everything is so vivid and refreshing and unlike anything I’ve seen in the fandom so far. the fic incorporates many canon elements and balances dialogue, world building and character development flawlessly. being in Harry’s head is an emotional ride, he’s a wonderful and relatable character and I just wanted him to be happy so badly. Draco’s arc is equally moving (I was screaming at his reappearance) and this is peak rivals to lovers!!! I was very invested in the competition and the romance is so so lovely and real. I felt incredibly sad and lost when I finished this fic because I wanted to stay in this universe forever. fun, inventive, sophisticated and surprising in the best ways, go read it now

Rare pair

Shut Up and Kiss Me by @unmistakablyoatmeal (Harry/Teddy, E, 7.7k)

There's a reason Harry walks an extra ten blocks to go to the shops and it has nothing to do with onions.

smitten Harry my beloved!!!! I’m so weak for this ship and this shop AU is the cutest thing you’ll read today, I love swooning Harry daydreaming about Teddy and being an absolute dork around him. it’s so funny (and mildly embarrassing) to watch him pine over this cool, charming, and confident young Teddy who’s not afraid to get what he wants 🌝 the clubbing scene deserves special kudos for its depiction of ageism in queer spaces and how older folks sometimes struggle to fit in. for all their differences I love how Harry and Teddy instantly click, the casual-not-so-casual flirting flows smoothly between them until the UST breaks with deliciously hot smut as per sdk’s usual. a sweet AU to check before the year ends!

[survivalistghost]

top 10 kdrama bromances to feed your empty heart

if you scroll through my page, you can already guess number 1.

#10 - our beloved summer : choi ung and kim ji ung

beautiful beautiful men choi woo shik and kim sung cheol played ung bros for life in this beautiful beautiful drama. one of the best handled love triangles ive seen. they were there for each other through thick and thin, and helped each other through sm. best. on the tenth spot because they could've expanded on it more :(

#9 - what's wrong with secretary kim? : lee young joon and park yoo sik

i could never make it through the series. i left it behind on ep9/10 i think, and primarily because i physically cannot digest how emotionless park min young is. BUT, kudos to the hilarious office best bromance by the great park seo joon and kang ki young. ps - why is kang ki young the pankaj tripathi of korean dramas?

#8 - strong girl do bong soon : ahn min hyuk and in gook du

can we ever forget the legendary wink? or the dream where min hyuk is dressed as a woman? i think not. this was more of a frenemy type bromance, united by their love for bong soon and ironically divided by it, too. i refuse to acknowledge this as a love triangle tho. bong soon was astronomical in not hurting gook du and i will not take any criticism. is it a bromance if one of them is pretending to be gay? (and no, we will not discuss any sort of iTs pRoBLeMaTiC debates here.)

#7 - tale of the nine tailed : lee yeon and koo shin ju

don't come at me with the lee rang comments. rang was his half brother, related by blood. their relationship was top tier, but the stay at home husband yeon and working husband shin ju was too cute to not be classified as a bromance. in the beginning, i saw their relationship as shin ju serving yeon, a dynamic that they both seemed to embody. but as the show progresses, yeon baby we know you love shin ju just as much :*

#6 - alchemy of souls : jang uk and seo yul

song joon ki seems to have an attachment to bromances. han seo had the best character arc of the ENTIRE kdrama universe fight me. that court scene where vincenzo pats han seo's cheek was max bro cuteness. still not over his death. he deserved better.

#5 - vincenzo : vincenzo cassano and jang han seo

even though i didn't very much like the show's first couple, bromance delivered well. hospital scene peaked, complete true beauty sameness. it was pretty hard to understand who was the superior officer in this tbh initially, since their comraderie was so cool, shi jin was kid to soldier in a split second. loved how they chose not to unnecessarily exaggerate the love triangle initially bec i was only rooting for the second couple.

#4 - descendants of the sun : yoo shi jin and seo dae young

business proposal was the first kdrama i saw. i finished it in a three day trip, and i remember thinking more about the bromance than the romance. i was NOT used to the clumsiness of kdramas in general, like wattpad fics incarnated. the bromance delivered well, made me root for the second couple, and was the only initial indicator of kang tae moo being human instead of archaeopteryx. that word was a nightmare to spell.

#3 - business proposal : kang tae moo and cha sung hoon

the most wolfstar bromance if I ever saw one. and NO, i do not ship wolfstar just like i do not ship these two. they are totally adorable, and specially since their personalities seemed to switch from when they were children. yeong turned all serious face and lee gon got fun. love their years of friendship sm, their wordless communication and yeong in general. the acting was amazing.

#2 - the king - eternal monarch : lee gon and jo yeong

#1 - guardian - the lonely and great god : kim shin aka goblin and wang yeo aka grim reaper

yes, i know I'm missing a lot of iconic ones. unfortunately, i haven't seen alot of kdramas and have left alot in bw (like true beauty bec i couldn't see second lead hurt).

spring onion slays ^

told ya, if u follow me u already knew what the first one was gonna be. being the simp i am for the goblin and grim reaper, these two achieved the max points for their bromance. that slow dynamic of goblin calling reaper's hat tacky to fighting with knives to that iconic 'saranghae' to 'HOW DARE YOU' to goblin boiling eggs with his powers while reaper chills the beer. they know each other so well. love love love them and you should too 🔪

in my heart, the trio of our boys beats nothing (except for the gookdu-minhyuk relationship of the crown prince and uk). but instead of choosing the frenemy thing, i decided to love yul and uk more. yul was such a quiet character, with incredible potential in him for me to hate him, but then...(the guy is literally too sweet and beautiful and nice i can ramble for days). and uk, man, our power baby who loves every version of our beautiful but slow girl, needed so much emotional support. uk and yul were not afraid to show their affection for each other, a trait i admired in all the three boys (jang uk, seo yul and park dang gu).

[eponymiad]

For Yuletide this year, I wrote this pseudo-Vox article for @newtsoftheworldunite's gift. The premise is a modern-day feature article in the QT universe where Shakespeare wrote a play about the king who married the queen who cut off his hand, and what the modern discourse about their real relationship would look like in both historian and fandom circles.

I had a lot of fun with it, and I crammed it full of both fandom references and non-fandom references. I made a list of all the ones I could find when I reread it (I'm sure I overlooked a few), which you can check out below the cut.

Princess Bythesea novels by Phresine are a reference to in-world bodice rippers from @hoeratius's Princess Diaries AU, for which both she and @hippolytas have written fic.  

The Genny Diaries is a play on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries 

The Setran Eugenides & Ira is a nod to my beloved Bride & Prejudice, a Bollywood Pride & Prejudice adaptation (and imo the best P&P adaptation) 

Wikipedia talk pages are basically a discussion page on every Wikipedia article to help editors behind the scenes make decisions, fix citations, and discuss what should/shouldn’t be included on the page 

Clothing references: the birds and twigs are a canon reference (thanks, Pheris), the wild fennel robes are a nod to a comment on a post MWT reblogged that someone else later made art for (she also reblogged the IRL coats which are beautiful), and the “ornate, traditional” clothing was a reference to Greece's really stunning regional clothing.

The rings were inspired by posy rings, which were popular in England and France in the late Medieval period. The inscription on Irene’s ring—Yours to command—was a legit inscription I found on a list so you can imagine how fast I added it in.

The poem is heavily pilfered from Sappho fragment 94, although it’s been edited to pay tribute to the most beautiful woman on earth 

The “life size statue” fights were @hippolytas's idea (among other things in this fic, but that’s what I remember most clearly) 

The Friends finale reference is a little joke for myself. Ross/Rachel were *the* will-they-won’t-they couple of the 90s and 00s, and I told some friends earlier this year that I think if Matthew Perry and Courtney Cox had had 20% less on-screen chemistry, the romance narrative might’ve shifted to who Monica would ultimately pick and let that be the big finale moment (and, frankly, have given Ross and Rachel’s storyline more creating room—but I digress). 

The RPF fics are all references to QT fanfics. The missing scenes and wedding night fics are obvious, but the two AUs are are this sci-fi one where the Attolia AI trains the guard and one of my own, Where Did You Come From, Where Did You Go? 

I'll update the list if I notice any others, but feel free to ping me if you think I've missed one! There are some other easter eggs in there, so if you think you spotted something else—you're probably right!

Thanks to everyone who has kudosed and commented on this fic, and to @thecrenellations and @cartograffiti and @hippolytas for their help and cheerleading, would legitimately have lost my mind if not for them <3

[disgracefulthings]

I gotta rant a bit about Loki

I have not seen season 2 of his show, but season one killed my love for MCU Loki

Let's start with the movies. The first two Thor movies are usually regarded as some of the worst MCU films (especially the second), but what I like about them is at least Loki has a consistent character arc throughout them (along with the first Avengers film). Loki learns that he's a part of a race that is treated like monsters on Asgard, and this destroys him. He tries to off himself at the end of the first Thor movie, only to end in the hands of Thanos. He went through so much shit throughout all three of these movies, and Thor 2 ends with him on Asgard's throne, leaving the audience wondering what he will do now he got what he thought he wanted.

Then Thor 3 happened. Look, I like Taika Waititi, and Thor 3 is an enjoyable film, but it destroyed Loki's character arc. He's just a silly guy now. Why does he try to backstab Thor? Because he's silly, no other reason. Plus, after Odin has lied to Loki for his entire life, he tells him that he loves him and magically all that trauma about him being a frost giant is gone! In fact, I think the MCU has forgotten that Loki is a frost giant at all! (Shut up, I know about What If). Ok, but what about the next movie. Thanos has finally come and now Loki can confront the person that gave him the mind stone to take over Earth- and Loki's dead.

I really don't like how they killed Loki. Loki is not a character you kill off to show how dangerous this villain will be. Mostly because the movies had forgotten to finish his character arc, but I guess everyone had forgotten he had one at this point.

Did anyone cry when he died? I sure as hell didn't, and I'm a crybaby when it comes to my faves dying. I was more shocked, and I convinced myself that this was another fake out. Honestly it may seem like cope with all these fans believing that he is still alive, but he has faked his death before, and nobody wanted to believe that his story will end in a dumb way that felt like the writers not believing that he mattered as a character.

But he did, and now we have season 1 of Loki. I honestly thought the writers realized how loved Loki is and they would finally finish his character arc. I mean, the show takes place after Avengers 1, and that's when Loki still hated himself for being a frost giant.

But no, Loki is silly again. Thor 3 has really ruined Loki. I understand that the first 2 Thor movies weren't as beloved, but I loved all the Loki scenes. There's a reason why his character became so popular despite the movies not.

Anyway, the first season of Loki isn't all bad. I love that it gave Loki a friend, and Mobius plays off him really well. And... yeah, I think that's all I like about it.

Now on to everything else. To start off, I really don't like Sylvie x Loki. Not only does it give me incestuous vibes, I really don't think Loki should have a love interest at this point (I don't ship Mobius x Loki too because of this point, but I will admit they have way more chemistry than Sylvie x Loki). But as I said, the writers didn't care about his character arc and so they forced a romance they had no time to build up, leaving me confused on why they had them fall in love in one episode, and ohh boy, the episode is super fucking dumb.

They established that you can do anything in an apocalypse situation and there would be no anomalies detected, SO WHY DOES LOKI AND SYLVIE FALLING IN LOVE CAUSE AN ANOMALY??? Because the plot said so, I love lazy writing in the show with my favorite character!!

God, and there's the queer baiting. Now, I can excuse the train scene because daddy Disney can't have shows say the word bi, but the scene where Loki asks the other Lokis if they ever seen another female Loki, and they say no???? WTF!?!? Is Loki gender fluid or not! Also, this is a stupid ass line that didn't need to be in the show? There are an infinite amount of universes, but only 1 female Loki who got caught by the TVA?? That doesn't make sense!

I'm done with Loki and I'm done with the MCU. The only good MCU show I've seen was WandaVision, and they still botched the ending and had a horrible follow up movie.

I heard Loki season 2 was better, but I still don't know why I should even bother

[bluemorningsoup]

I’ve yapped about how much I love this scene because of its romance-tragedy-love-pride-desire-understanding-etc. and groused about its omission from SHL, but my dumb ass just realised that I love it because this is the pivotal event—the Jonbar hinge—of WKX’s entire character arc.

In an alternate universe, WKX destroyed ZZS’s martial arts here. “Neither human nor ghost”, WKX was faced with two choices. In the end, 20 years of accumulated ruthlessness and the justified desire to save ZZS lost to ZZS’s words, and WKX chose the painful path of being human.

TYK’s “Yes, I understand” is a small scene tucked between two action set pieces, but it determined WKX and WenZhou’s trajectory. The lull in the action, the sudden temptation, a choice made—the momentousness of which the MC was not fully cognisant—remind me of Galadriel’s choice. A whole arc of temptation and temptation rejected in a few lines, and this, in turn, changed everything.

It is one of the simplest forms of storytelling: a hand reaches out to take; a hand is withdrawn. WKX could have closed his fingers around ZZS’s light and entrapped ZZS, but he cupped that light in his palm instead, and when WKX asked for ZZS to stay, ZZS did.

(Also displayed is ZZS’s personality: amenable to persuasion, but not to coercion. He refused when WKX tried to use force, demurred when WKX used manipulation, and only relented when WKX voiced an honest request.)

The “Yes, I understand” scene in TYK is the climax of WKX’s entire plot and character arc, but from ZZS’s perspective, it’s just seven measly paragraphs in Chapter 48, NBD.

Sources:

TYK Ch. 48, TL by wenbuxing

TYK Extra: My Beloved, My Soulmate, TL by kexingzishu

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

TYK Ch. 51, TL by wenbuxing

[exlibrisfangirl]

So I can usually parse at least a VAGUE idea of what something's about based on out-of-context gifsets but I'm coming up totally blank on what the hell this Haven show's about. The only thing I think I've figured out about it is that I like this Duke guy's face. So uh.... what's it about? XD (and is it worth a watch?)

Is it worth a watch?

Oh. OH. Have I GOT A SHOW FOR YOU. *rubs hands together gleefully*

Intro

Based on the Stephen King novella “The Colorado Kid”, this Canadian-American Syfy series is set in the quaint, seaside town of Haven, Maine (actually filmed in Nova Scotia, so it looks the part), where many of the local residents harbor supernatural afflictions referred to by the locals as “Troubles”. The Troubles have always existed - but have a habit of coming and going throughout the ages - and the quirky, standoffish townsfolk are understandably wary of strangers.

Main Cast

Enter Audrey Parker (Emily Rose), a spunky, beautiful FBI agent with a mysterious past who visits Haven on what she believes to be a routine assignment to track down a fugitive, only to find herself in wayyy over her head. She feels drawn to this town she has most definitely never been to before in an eerie, unsettling way, and she just can't seem to leave. Hmmm. Maybe she isn't such an outsider after all? *strokes mustache*

Immediately upon her arrival, Audrey has a run in with the local law. Meet Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant), the stiff, serious, emotionally-constipated, handsome Haven PD detective with daddy issues and a rare medical condition which prevents him from feeling any (physical) sensation... neither pleasure nor pain. Can Audrey break down the walls around his carefully-guarded heart and help him feel something? Anything?

And then there's Duke. Nathan's beloved sworn enemy frenemy since childhood, Duke Crocker (Eric Balfour) is a swashbuckling smuggler and pirate (no, actually), who also has daddy issues. And mommy issues. Just... ALL the issues. He is snarky, charming, rogue-ishly good-looking... and almost always doing something super illegal sketchy, but he secretly has a heart of gold, okay? Solid, piratey gold. We like his face. We like his character development even more.

Surrounded by a cast of delightfully peculiar and endearing supporting characters, this odd throuple (BROT3? OT3? NOT3? You decide...) have to figure out exactly how they are all connected and why the universe has brought them together now, of all times.

Plot

You like a particular trope? This show's got it! There's romance. There's mystery. There's humor. There's angst. There's fluff (but a high angst-to-fluff ratio, just the way I like it). There's magic and curses. There are ghosts and monsters and shapeshifters and aliens... oh my! There's body-swapping. There are dimensional/space/time travel hijinks. There's a TARDIS in the form of an old barn. There's... reanimated taxidermy...

Anyway, it's an interesting premise with some truly stellar characters, relationship dynamics, and character development/arcs, and, as the series unfolds, there are some really good plot twists and reveals.

Caveat

(PARTIAL SPOILER ALERT: I must warn you, there is a major character death at the end of S5, and it's pretty upsetting to watch. If you can't handle main character deaths, you might not want to watch that far... or at all. Personally, I'm glad I did, even though it hurt like hell... but it will 100% haunt me forever.)

If you do decide to give it a go, please tell me, so I can squee with you!

[bluedalahorse]

today’s early morning sargust poll

This may be preemptive since I still have the final chapters of Heart and Homeland to work on (and a grad school deadline the 28th on top of that) but I’m thinking about the next fanfics I want to write/co-author for Young Royals fandom. I have a few ideas rattling around in my brain, all of them quite enticing to me. Of course, the characters I am best at writing and enjoy writing most are Sara and August, and I’m particularly interested in exploring their romantic relationship. I’ve got both Tragic Endings in mind and Fix It Endings for them in mind, and I’d like to try both out. I am also aware that they are not widely beloved, and I fully understand why. Nonetheless, the heart must write what it yearns to write.

I tend to write for myself first and then hope my fics resonate with someone out there so that I can make connections, so your answers won’t necessarily determine what I write next. More what I’m trying to gauge here is if any aspects of my existing ideas are resonating with people, and how I’d pitch/summarize my work to attract readers in the first place.

Also, I’m motivated by good, old-fashioned scientific curiosity. So:

If I’m feeling silly, I may do a less serious version of the poll later.

Note: I’m also asking folks to kindly refrain from explaining to me why sargust is an unpopular ship in the tags and comments of this post. I’m 100% aware why they’re unpopular—it’s because August fully embraces his capacity to be a shitbag far more than we want him to and Sara fell in love with him anyway, and that ended up hurting Simon and Wilhelm. I know that for many of you, fic that includes August at all (and sometimes Sara as well) is a dealbreaker. That’s okay to have that dealbreaker! However, in this post, I’m trying to carve out some discussion space for the more sargust-curious among us, and for the people who find them deeply compelling. I know some of you exist, and I’m interested in hearing what you have to say.

Thank you for your understanding and your consideration. I hope everyone has a restful and/or exciting weekend!

[variousqueerthings]

we did watch end of time last night, and I didn't cry, but also it feels like I ought to, but maybe it's that the story isn't technically finished because there's a coda coming up. but also I feel sad anyway

but just to think about the original epilogue that is the five specials, interesting to think about. I do think that "the next doctor" is the messiest of the bunch, but that's par for the course for christmas specials (and still by far not as messy as some later christmas specials...) however, let's be real, I'm here for the character insights, and this episode eases us into the idea that this doctor will not be with us long, mentions a bit about being alone, and then the doctor has a last christmas dinner, after avoiding it since rose

planet of the dead is an alright episode -- fun general plot, am into the creatures it introduces, and I mentioned before that whatever is happening between christina and the doctor is like an anti-romance (and... not by design, I assume, but it fits in with all of my headcanons, so I'm not complaining here). the main thing here, other than cryptic prophecies, is that the doctor has an offer for a new companion here. and he says "no, because I have a bunch of survivor's guilt, PTSD, and depression, and I wish women would stop suddenly kissing me out of the blue, seriously beginning to freak me out, sure hope that doesn't happen in my next regeneration..." (well, okay, he thinks those things)

mainly those two episodes though, give us a bit of good stuff. people clap and tell the doctor what a good job he's doing, you're like "ok maybe he could keep going like this for awhile and things might get bette-"

and then waters of mars, beloved carrier of The Themes, rtd like, "well you've got two slightly silly episodes to start us off, and we've got a double episode that's very rtd-vibes to finish us off, so lets have a middle episode that is so horrifying on several levels, to really balance us off, yes good." (and it is so fucking good). rtd in the behind-the-scenes talked about how they originally had a whole thing about how yuri and mia being a couple, well were they going to have children, and how would that affect the development of humanity if they were meant to be dead and like... yeah. adelaide knew what was up, but they didn't (maybe they suspected -- what's it like, I wonder, knowing you were really really meant to be dead, and you're living a life that is at odds with time itself...) but we don't have time to get into aaaall of that, the important thing is that the doctor is briefly mad with grief and tries it out against heavyweight (checks notes) The Concept Of Time, and sort of loses and is told it's time to die and responds to it by going-

lol nope. at the beginning of the end of time, the doctor avoids dying by doing a last spot of travelling, and acting like he's having a mental health breakdown and that's fine. and then has to rush to face his death, which as it turns out is (not so shockingly) connected to the master, our favourite weirdo, and they do their whole homoerotic thing where the master hurts the doctor in various ways and ties him up and threatens to kill him and destroys humanity (again), par for the course, except for bringing back the timelords + ofc there's a whooole bit where the doctor's PTSD depression comes to the forefront and he admits that he's terrified of regenerating, but also everything sucks and david tennant is a terrific actor and it's fascinating that rtd brought back doctor who in the way that he did, with a relearning of the wonders of the universe, only to rip it all away again

so you know. get fucked ten, but also it makes sense, there's an Arc, there's Cause and Effect, there's mountains of Sadness. POV you're learning about tragic narrative arcs in the whimsical time travel show after having tuned in for 5ish years since you were 10 (kidding, I watched the animated animal farm when I was five and it made me very curious about why it made me feel so bad and then we chased that concept ever since)

I genuinely cannot remember how I emotionally left things with ten back when there was no proposed special episodes going to happen, but I think if there's any doctor that needs a bit of catharsis, it's that one. and hopefully that'll come with a sense of everything that came next to change the doctor's view on Life this time around. or youknow. more pain. maybe a bit of both

in any case, thank you to the first rtd era, it changed my brain chemistry forever and introduced me to the whimsical time travel show and everything was fine

[avelera]

Well I'm finally caught up on all of Ted Lasso. There were many, many puzzling writing choices and really the only question in my mind is what behind the scenes drama led to them. It was a beloved ensemble piece in dire need of a central story spine and/or plot to actually attach itself to and I remain incredibly puzzled as to why it never found one. I will likely never think about the show in any great depth again, which is a shame, because after season 1 it was one of my most anticipated. It's not bad. It's just, in my opinion, too in love with its own legend.

As for people who feel jerked around by all the "clues" that never materialized, alas. I get you but I also feel bad that the audience got strung along like that, because there was never any "there" there.

The fact is, most mysteries in a show aren't a scavenger hunt to the extent that you need to compare how certain frames were shot to "confirm" a romance.

In a standard mystery, there's really 3 (or 4, if you count re-watchers) audiences that are being written for. 1 is those way ahead of the curve - those are the ones being rewarded by close attention to detail like comparing frames side by side or color symbolism or what have you. The second is the core audience, people who are following the signs such that they're usually one step ahead of the characters in-universe. As a writer, this is your sweet spot, the people you want to please the most, the attentive good-faith viewing audience. Then 3 is people who are just sort of there for entertainment, they're not trying to solve your mystery, they'll figure out who the murderer is when you flat-out tell them.

The problem with trying to say that this or that subtle "sign" was secretly hinting at a certain ship becoming canon is that part 2 of the audience was never addressed. There was no, "This frame matches the first time they met!" "This scarf secretly spells out his name!" follow by actual longing looks or an actual date between the two characters. Stories aren't scavenger hunts. Such pleasures might be added as flavor, but even a mystery novel will eventually tell you who the murderer was. And frankly, by the time we got to episode 8/12 (or much sooner, to be honest) the pacing just didn't work anymore for all the anticipated actions to happen, unless they happened in one big blowout in the final episode, but even that pacing was lacking.

Frankly for me, more that Tedbecca, the greatest disappointment was a complete lack of Nathan Shelley arc. Seriously, what the fuck? So many beats of the show seemed crafted to be part of Nate's arc, yet we never saw him coach? We never saw anything but his odd B plot redemption romance, but there was no A plot villain act for it to follow. It was so very odd. I don't understand if it was behind the scenes drama, or budget, or they just decided Nate didn't need a villain arc before he could get a redemption one? It was so odd because he felt like the actual A plot of the season, the rivalry of the prodigal son vs. Ted. But it never materialized. I was puzzled and rather disappointed and deeply confused as to how a whole show season could be written without an A plot. It was nothing but sequel scenes and emotional beats. It was so very, very odd. I'm assuming by the end it was just an ego vehicle for Sudeikis or something. Probably the loss of the second showrunner played a big part. But it was a shame.

Now I want to go watch Spider-Verse again just for a tightly crafted script.